…he type of suffering Marcia Angell was talking about was not pain, not actual physical pain. Pain is a medical problem that palliative care can solve. As palliative care expert Ira Byock has testified, If I thought lethal prescriptions were necessary to alleviate suffering, I would support them. In 34 years of practice, I have never abandoned a patient to die in uncontrolled pain and have never needed to hasten a patient’s death. Alleviating suffe…
…apers and on the internet. Criste Reimer was allegedly thrown off a fourth floor balcony by her husband. The early reports have led many in the public to believe her death is a moral lesson in either compassion, the cost of health care or both. Her family doesn’t think her death has anything to do with either of those issues. This all got unexpectedly personal. Some of Criste Reimer’s messages to online groups have been posted elsewhere, all from…
…cussing on the “Ashley X” debate, she challenges the question of the surgical alterations to the young girl in question as a “disability rights” issue. She selectively defines “disability rights” issues through the social model often applied to people with physical disabilities. She also refers to the Illinois People First website and makes the claim that the statements made about what people with disabilities need and want exclude people with the…
…anywhere from six months to five years in jail, according to Bild . The Local (news@thelocal.de) It’s hard to predict the outcome here. The fact that the murder was done through a multiple stabbing tends to make people less sympathetic to murderers and less inclined to think “mercy” was a motive. OTOH, the German public and courts could just shrug and decide that an honest belief that someone is dying and suffering is a good enough reason to evade…
…is in the video piece – not surprising since the author of the article is also the reporter in the video piece: Amid Skepticism, Jack “Dr. Death” Death Kevorkian Runs for Congress: By Jeff Goldblatt Assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian Tuesday received the paperwork he’ll need to fill out in order to run for Congress as an Independent in Michigan’s ninth district. Nicknamed Dr. Death, Kevorkian, who served eight years in prison for second-deg…
